Portia's Online Journal

white: Hitler wanted blonde hair, blue eyed, white skin. this is shown through the clour symbol of white which resembles purity and innocence, goodness, perfection, and cleanliness which is what Hitler wanted as he only wanted the Germans as he believed they are the superior race.

Black:  Associated with death, and especially with the black swastika ( German flag) black also represents destruction and mourning.  black is also shown when Rudy didn’t know or understand the problem of wanting to be black and be like the famous Jesse Owens.

Red: The burning of the books and the history of the jews.  shows red, hatred and killing. Burning of the books at the beginning of the war to get rid of the written history and by the end of the war, they were burning people to get rid of the physical history.  To have a clean slate and be a purer race. The Jewish books represented the freedom of speech and the knowledge and truth of history,  the burning of the books also represented the destruction of Jewish people all their ideas, art, writing and any information that didn’t support the Nazi regime.

Words Used:

I believe the words in the poem “Anthem For Doomed Youth” convey the anger the writer has towards the war, and that he questions the war. “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” “What candles may be held to speed them all?”  the poem also portrays the events of the war as he explains them “the shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; and bugles calling for them from sad shires.”  the author portrays the feeling of sorrowful and despair through the  words in the poem which he describes through actions in the war; “anger of guns” “wailing shires” “sad shires” “goodbyes” “drawing down of blinds” the message I believe\understand as the reader is that the author is trying to convey is that the youth think it is a privilege to go to war for your country but they are doomed by the war as it is not a glorious place\thing I believe the words In the poem affect our understanding of what is taking place as he uses intricate words to describe the war and what is taking place such as “demented” – raving mad and “drawing down of blinds” – as a sign to the world that someone has died. [as a mark of respect]  as well as “orisons” – prayers.

Language Techniques Used:

The simile; “these who die as cattle” conveys the events of the soldiers dying  and the idea that the soldiers died as cattle [a lot and in a short period of time] the message I believe the author is trying to portray is that no one cared for the soldiers as the author states ” who die as cattle’ which I believe means they died and people thought nothing of it as they are just cattle just soldiers doing their job.

Another language technique used in the poem is Emotive language “die” “monstrous anger” “mockeries” “prayers” “morning” “demented” “wailing” “sad” “goodbyes” “tenderness” I believe the technique used in the poem are implied to tell, show\ make you image the true sadness and despair the war really was! it makes you imagine the dead soldiers and the anger of the war many people felt. it gives off the message of negative feeling and anger towards the war.

Positive and Negative ideas:

I believe Wilfred Owen represents negative actions and emotions throughout the poem. I believe this as the words portrayed the negative aspect of death and sadness “monstrous anger of the guns” “no prayers” “mourning” “wailing shells” “sad shires” “glimmers of goodbyes” “drawing down of blinds”  the ideas of death, grieving families and enemies. These notions of ideas have a negative effect and it makes me the reader picture people dying which shows an image in my mind of the true sadness and despair the war brought.